The cause of the derailment is unclear and is under investigation, Norfolk Southern Manager of General Operations Kraig Barner said.
The train, coming from Bellevue, Ohio and heading to Birmingham, Ala., was carrying plastic products, steel products, automobiles and other items. “A couple” of cars not involved in the derailment also were carrying liquid propane and ethanol, Barner said.
Four empty tankers with non-hazardous materials — two with residual amounts of diesel exhaust fluid, and two with residual amounts of polyacrylamide water solution — were identified among the 20 derailed cars, according to the Clark County EMA, according to Springfield Fire and Rescue Division Assistant Chief Matt Smith.
Diesel exhaust fluid and polyacrylamide Water Solution are common industrial products shipped via railroad, the county statement said. Norfolk Southern immediately provided a containment list, the statement said, and first responders had access to the list via the ASKRAIL app.
“Nothing had spilled onto the ground, and very minimal materials were on the actual cars themselves,” he said.
A local HAZMAT team inspected the area around State Route 41 twice following the derailment, and the Ohio EPA was on site Saturday and Sunday to inspect the area and confirm no material was released.
Vogel said a car carrying non-hazardous PVC pellets spilled during the derailment, and her agency will be on site to ensure that the soil will not be impacted.
“There have been multiple sweeps by multiple teams... to ensure that there aren’t any chemicals present in the soil there or the water that would harm the people here in Clark County,” Clark County Combined Health District Commissioner Charles Patterson said on Sunday.
The heath commissioner said technicians will continue to monitor the derailment site.
It’s unclear what cost is associated with clean-up efforts.
The derailment occurred at 4:57 p.m. Saturday on State Route 41 near Gateway Boulevard, between Interstate 70 and Bird Road, according to Sgt. David Slanker of the Springfield Post of Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Shawn Heaton was waiting at the intersection as the train crossed the intersection and captured the start of the derailment on video.
“I was right there and I was playing on my phone and then I heard a loud bang. And when I heard the loud bang, I started recording,” Heaton said. “When I heard the bang, there was all kinds of debris and metal shoot out from under the cars and that’s when I started recording and you could see them start jumping off the tracks.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
A shelter-in-place order for residents who lived within 1,000 feet of the derailment was lifted by the Clark County EMA early Sunday. Springfield Twp. fire chief Dave Nangle said only four or five residences were within that zone.
Ohio Edison crews worked to restore power for nearly 50 residents affected, with electricity coming back to the area late Sunday afternoon, according to the power company.
Downed power lines from the derailment stalled clean-up efforts for several hours, Nangle said.
State Route 41 remained closed between I-70 and Gateway Boulevard in Springfield through Sunday afternoon as crews worked to complete emergency repairs at the railroad crossing, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation.
The final car in the derailment was cleared off by 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, according to Barner. Repairs on the tracks were expected to continue through the night and into Monday.
This is the second Norfolk Southern train derailment to occur in Clark County in the span of a year. A derailment of 26 of more than 100 cars in May 2022 near Old Mill Road in Mad River Twp. resulted in no injuries and no HAZMAT situation, according to a Norfolk Southern spokesperson.
People living near the tracks in May reported hearing a series of booms that evening, as well as seeing cars in the nearby river and seeing the train at a full stop.
Springfield’s derailment also comes a month after a Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. That train had 149 cars, 11 of which were carrying hazardous materials. Vinyl chloride was slowly released into the air at that time from five of those cars before crews ignited it to get rid of the highly flammable, toxic chemicals in a controlled environment, creating a dark plume of smoke.
East Palestine residents expressed health concerns following the derailment and controlled burn and have been meeting with federal and state officials as well as representatives from Norfolk Southern.
A recent investigation by this newspaper found Ohio ranks fourth in the nation for railroad accidents, with 281 accidents between 2019 and November 2022. Fifty-five of those Ohio accidents were last year.
Ohio also ranks third in the nation for serious incidents involving the release of hazardous materials being transported by rail, road or air, the investigation found.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said on “This Week’' on ABC that he is not completely satisfied with Norfolk Southern’s response and accused the railroad of putting profits over the health and safety of people.
“The big railroads have weakened safety rules or resisted safety rules for years,” said Brown, who along with Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and other senators have introduced a bill to improve railroad safety.
Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw is scheduled to testify before a U.S. Senate committee Thursday.
U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, expressed concern about railroad safety on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. “This truly is outrageous. You know, Ohio is really the crossroads of America, both on the road and in rail. An unbelievable amount of goods travel through Ohio, some hazardous. What we’ve seen, you know, recently with the risk to communities is unacceptable,” he said.
Bill Lackey contributed to this report.
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